"At length," he added, "I have been successful; but I regret to say that he has not fallen into the hands of the Zealots or the Idumeans, who might be induced to restore him on the payment of a large ransom; but he has been seized by the arm of justice. His criminal apostasy has been discovered to some of our most holy and zealous priests; and their righteous indignation has led them to take this step as a salutary warning to others who may be inclined to the same heresy, and as a wise precaution to prevent his disseminating the errors which have perverted his mind. I grieve for his fate, but it was only what I dreaded would be the result of his folly." "Javan," cried Claudia, "it is you who have betrayed him! None but you and Rabbi Joazer were acquainted with his opinions; and the Rabbi had sworn to Zadok that he would never reveal them. You have brought all this evil on your house, and now you seek to hide your cruelty under the mask of sorrow." "Silence, Claudia!" replied Javan indignantly; "and remember that though I cast back your passionate accusations with contempt, yet I have power and influence which it would be your wiser course to conciliate by submission, and not thus by your unfounded taunts to provoke me to use them against the object of your affection. But I act from higher motives than personal love or hatred; and I shall pursue the course which I see to be for the real good of my cousin, and the honour of my family, without any regard to the ravings of a heathen girl." Claudia shrunk away from the look of fierce determination with which Javan accompanied this rebuke. She feared that by her unguarded exclamations she had only exasperated him still more against both Theophilus and herself; and she resolved in future to restrain her feelings, and if possible to conceal from him her horror and dread of his character, and the personal dislike which she had always felt for him. She could not reply to him, for her heart was too full; but Naomi approached him, and in a gentle voice endeavoured to move him to better feelings. "My brother," she said, "do not speak thus harshly to Claudia. She is overwhelmed with grief, and knows not what she utters; and you should pity rather than blame her. You say that you have power and influence over those who have carried off our unfortunate cousin. Will you not exert them in his favour? He is your near kinsman--he never injured you. He formed the happiness of his parents, and of my poor Claudia too; and his character was never sullied by an act that could reflect shame on his family. What though he now differs from you in his religious opinions? That is a matter between him and his God, whom he serves in sincerity; and before whom he must stand or fall. O Javan, join not with those who seek his life; but restore him--for I know you can--to those whose life is bound up in his life, and let not the grey hairs of your father's brother be brought down to the grave in sorrow."